Planetary health
Public Health and Policy
Definition. Planetary health is a field focused on the health of human civilisation and the state of the natural systems on which it depends.
Explanation
Horton and Lo called for planetary health as a new science for exceptional action on environmental change (Horton & Lo, 2015). For health organisations, it translates into sustainability strategies, which maturity models help to structure (Sijm-Eeken et al., 2024).
Related concepts
Climate change and health Sustainable healthcare One Health Global health
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References
Horton, R., & Lo, S. (2015). Planetary health: A new science for exceptional action. The Lancet, 386(10007), 1921–1922. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61038-8
Sijm-Eeken, M., Ossebaard, H. C., Čaluković, A., Temme, B., Peute, L. W., & Jaspers, M. W. (2024). Linking theory and practice to advance sustainable healthcare: the development of maturity model version 1.0. BMC Health Services Research, 24 (1), 1350. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11749-8
Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Planetary health. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/planetary-health/
Articles that discuss this concept
2 articles on The Health Topics mention this concept. Most relevant first.